{"id":419681,"date":"2026-04-27T08:53:08","date_gmt":"2026-04-27T08:53:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/419681\/"},"modified":"2026-04-27T08:53:08","modified_gmt":"2026-04-27T08:53:08","slug":"rathwood-halts-customer-refunds-and-chooses-quicker-cheaper-insolvency-process-the-irish-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/419681\/","title":{"rendered":"Rathwood halts customer refunds and chooses quicker, cheaper insolvency process \u2013 The Irish Times"},"content":{"rendered":"

Customers who bought products from a Carlow-based homes and garden centre that were never delivered have expressed concern they may never see promised refunds after the company entered a process aimed at restructuring its debts. <\/p>\n

Rathwood claimed in a statement posted on its website over the weekend that it had gone into examinership and would not be issuing any refunds owed to customers over undelivered orders until the process is complete.<\/p>\n

However, the company has not applied to the High Court for an examiner to be appointed and instead lodged papers with the Companies Registration Office on Friday evening outlining its engagement with the Small Company Administrative Rescue Process (Scarp).<\/p>\n

Scarp was introduced four years ago as an affordable formal insolvency process for small businesses facing financial difficulties. It is similar to examinership but quicker, cheaper and requires less court oversight, but any restructuring agreed between creditors and a company needs judicial approval. <\/p>\n

\u201cWe want to reassure all our customers, suppliers, and partners that we continue to trade as normal and operate fully in accordance with all applicable laws,\u201d noted the Rathwood statement. \u201cOur business remains open, and we are continuing to sell goods and engage with customers and stakeholders as usual.\u201d<\/p>\n

The statement added that \u201cat this time, we regret that we are not in a position to address any outstanding payments or refund requests relating to amounts owed up to today. These matters will be reviewed as part of the examinership process, and we will provide further updates once the appointed persons have completed their initial report.\u201d<\/p>\n

Multiple customers who contacted The Irish Times<\/a> expressed concern the process would see them left without promised refunds and without products for which they paid. <\/p>\n

[\u00a0Rathwood goes into examinership, says it is \u2018not in a position\u2019 to issue customer refundsOpens in new window<\/a>\u00a0]<\/p>\n

One Kerry-based customer said she had placed an order for garden furniture in December using a so-called wait-and-save option. \u201cIt was the only way I could afford to buy this furniture, which cost me a total of \u20ac755,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was due for delivery in April. I still haven\u2019t received the set. A new date has been put on it for the start of May. I have rang numerous [times] but have heard nothing back. I am a widowed mom to a young child … that money took so long for me to save.\u201d<\/p>\n

Rathwood has been operating from premises on the Wicklow-Carlow border for more than 30 years and grew into one of the biggest outdoor-living retailers in the State, expanding in recent years with concessions in other retail outlets as well as a significant online presence.<\/p>\n

Last year, it emerged that customers who had bought products, including garden furniture and firewood, through its website had been left waiting months for orders to be delivered, with many rescheduled on multiple occasions.<\/p>\n

It initially blamed delivery problems on the closure of a key supplier and said it was restructuring its supply chain. <\/p>\n

However, the problems continued throughout last winter, with many affected customers contacting the Competition and Consumer Protection Commission to highlight delays in delivery and difficulties in making contact with the company.<\/p>\n

In a helpline report published last week, the commission said it had received 565 calls about Rathwood in 2025, making it the second most-complained company in the State behind Ryanair. <\/p>\n

And earlier this month, the commission said the retailer had signed legally binding commitments with it and committed to issuing refunds to consumers who bought products on the company website before cancelling the orders over delivery delays.<\/p>\n

The retailer\u2019s legally binding undertakings came after an investigation which found them in breach of consumer protection legislation.<\/p>\n

The Irish Times sought comment from Rathwood <\/a>but no response was forthcoming.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Customers who bought products from a Carlow-based homes and garden centre that were never delivered have expressed concern…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":416830,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[72,61,60,173552],"class_list":{"0":"post-419681","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-business","8":"tag-business","9":"tag-ie","10":"tag-ireland","11":"tag-rathwood-home-and-garden-world"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/419681","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=419681"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/419681\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/416830"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=419681"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=419681"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=419681"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}